Time, by mo­ments, steals away,
First the hour, and then the day;
Small the dai­ly loss ap­pears,
Yet it soon amounts to years:
Thus an­oth­er year is flown,
Now it is no more our own;
If it brought or pro­mised good,
Than the years be­fore the flood.

But (may none of us for­get)
It has left us much in debt;
Favors from the Lord re­ceived,
Sins that have His Spir­it grieved;
Marked by an un­err­ing hand
In His book re­cord­ed stand;
Who can tell the vast amount,
Placed to each of our ac­count?

Happy, the be­liev­ing soul!
Christ for you has paid the whole;
While you own the debt is large,
You may plead a full dis­charge:
But poor care­less sin­ner, say,
What can you to jus­tice pay?
Tremble, lest when life is past,
Into pri­son you be cast!

Will you still in­crease the score?
Still be care­less, as be­fore?
O, for­bid it, gra­cious Lord,
Touch their spir­its by Thy Word!
Now, in mer­cy, to them show
What a migh­ty debt they owe!
All their un­be­lief su­bdue,
Let them find for­giv­eness too.

Spared to see an­oth­er year,
Let Thy bless­ing meet us here;
Come, Thy dy­ing work re­vive,
Bid Thy droop­ing gar­den thrive:
Sun of right­eous­ness, arise!
Warm our hearts, and bless our eyes;
Let our pray­er Thy bow­els move,
Make this year a time of love!